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aldojags, what I usually do is offer hot prospects to clubs on loan. Many times you'll have teams from your own league wanting him on loan as a first team player, and he will be able to get the action he needs, against opposition of the same level as your team's. I also remember at times sending my players to tougher lower leagues, i.e. liga Adelante. The most important, I found, is to make sure the team you will loan him to will play him, because often I sent the kids to my feeder club, and they would not be played for some reason.

I currently have 5 feeder clubs, 1 in Spanish 2DB, 2 in Spanish lower leagues, 1 in 2nd level of Holland, and 1 in Japan. Wanted a Liga Adelante one, but guess I might just need to work on getting Xerez up to the top.

But the Offer to Clubs one works quite a lot, and I have also had some teams in Liga BBVA wanting my players for loan.

I do get the occasional offer, but it's mainly "cover for first team". And in France, I don't think it's possible to loan someone without "can play against own team", it usually doesn't let me take it out. But SC Bastia in Ligue 2 have become my unnoficial feeder club, taken 2 of my fringe youngsters on loan, both getting game time, and I used offer to clubs for that, so I may use that in future.

In past FM's when I've been a big club, I got a feeder club to increase profile in another country, does it actually work? I paid some Chinese club like £450k a year, but I wasn't convinced it worked. Someone told me for it to work you also had to have a player in the squad native to that particular country. Because if I did in this one, I'd need to make sure I got a return, as 450k isn't neccessarily money I can just throw away, we're no rich enough to write that money off.

Well since I got a Japanese feeder club i have jumped from 60-70k per month Merchandising up to 80-90k, so I guess that is 240k per season increase, but I am paying 1.4M to their club, I am not 100% sure of the merchandising benefits, but it cannot hurt me as I have plenty of money. I will update further on if the merchandising increases a lot more, I have also been looking at a Japanese player so I might see about bringing him in and seeing if that helps as well.

Well one thing is for sure, Parla will be in the Champions League Group Stages next season as with 5 games to go I have guaranteed a top 3 spot in the league. The battle for the title is a lot tighter as I am 2pts above Real Madrid, though they have a game in hand, we play them next week at Parla Stadium in what could be a deciding game.

Well not sure what to make of the results 1-1 vs Real Madrid, leaves us top, then I have been humped by Athletic Bilbao & Espanyol, and now 2pts behind, I have 2 games left, they have 3, think that is title race over. Oh well, Champions League next season and a huge season there as Granada & Barcelona battle for third 13pts behind us.

Just finished another season. We didn't really perform well, as I seem to have the same problem as last season: we can't finish. We lost 5 of the last 6 games, it's frustrating. A report will come soon, I'm too lazy too make one right now.

Well not sure what to make of the results 1-1 vs Real Madrid, leaves us top, then I have been humped by Athletic Bilbao & Espanyol, and now 2pts behind, I have 2 games left, they have 3, think that is title race over. Oh well, Champions League next season and a huge season there as Granada & Barcelona battle for third 13pts behind us.

Shame you might not be able to win the league, but making it into the Champions League will be great for you.

Right, I think I've caught up with that. Can't promise I've read everything but I think I've picked up the gist.

aldojags - Nice progress, really starting to put pressure on the top places. And I love the look of Ilan Roger, really hope he can turn into the French Cardoso! Cuba was awesome. I tried a bit of scouting, but didn't spot and future gems on the streets of Havana.Vikeologist - Great job with completion.LLR - Some mixed results there. I have a feeling you're close to a major breakthrough though.DodgeeD - Some great players around that squad. Particularly like the rapid midfielder.corinthiano - Glad to see you back, hope you can have better luck with the save reliability.Anyone I've not mentioned - I was impressed when reading through, but I'm afraid not everything has stuck in my head.New entrants - Welcome on board, good luck with everything, I look forward to reading your updates.

As for me, well I've just cranked up FM12 for the first time since I've returned and I went straight to Lusitânia Açores to continue Cardoso et al's career. Glad to be back. First though I'll have to crack out a short update from my last season.

No major transfer activity this season, although with two feeder clubs in the top league plenty of players went out on loan to them, and they did well, keeping both in the top league for another year.

League - 1st | Graph - Comfortable season retaining our domestic domination.Cups - We completed our haul by adding the European Super Cup and Club World Championship to our collection before disappointing defeats in the two domestic cups.Europe - Second final in as many years, but unable to replicate last year's win as two early Arsenal goals sank us.

Squad | Overview - No individual updates this season, as I've left it too long but will return next time out.

Superb PRDH I'm looking forward to seeing how your doing, a bit sad I know, but a couple of times when my friends etc have been over I've skipped back a couple of pages and showed them your save, their the same as me, absolute sucker for a star from the youth team! They were well impressed/jealous!

I'm having a bit of a weird season. Domestically, not been great - sitting 7th at the minute, amongst a cluster of teams all 2-3 points off top 3. Some games I'm scoring for fun, beat quite a few teams 4-0 5-1 etc, and I'm surprised how my squad has adapted to the Champions league quite well. When I was in Europa, just played my back up players to keep first team fresh for the league, but I'm playing the same team in both competitions at the minute gave or take, and fitness wise they are doing well, but my last 3 games, I beat AC Milan at home, 3-1, played them off the park. Then at home on the Saturday, lose to Lille 1-0 although I dominated. Then I go to San Siro and win 2-0, again playing them off the park. It's unfuriating how inconsistent in the league I've become. The "big 3" as I call them are miles ahead of me in terms of strength in numbers. Can't see me finishing 3rd again this year, I've comfortably taken 3rd off Lyon past 2 seasons, but they're sitting top just now, and looking dangerous. I normally beat them, and yet they horsed me 5-3 early in season.

In terms of Champions League, well it's a bit of a mix again. 1st game at home to Zenit, played well, went in front, dominated, then lost 2-1. Then away to Valencia, beaten 4-3. Then the 2 Milan games. So I've still a good chance to qualify, everyone is beating each other, and if I play to potential I could beat Valencia at home, and I'd fancy getting a result in Russia too. But the league's looking too tough to win this season. Still a few players off winning the league I think. You should see PSG's squad it's frightening. Marseille and Lyon aren';t much better than me, but PSG are phenomenal.

I am Portugal manager. I'm not restricting myself at the moment. I'm carrying on as usual at club level and experimenting internationally. I'm not feeling the Portugal job particularly. May well leave after the next tournament and experiment with a youth team only policy at club level.

that would be superb! still think you'd romp the league. you got any superstars coming through at the minute?

No new ones, really. Only just started the season though so we'll see how last season's crop do in their first taste of professional football. Nuno Rosa (the star of the last intake) has already made his debut in our Supertaca victory at the start of the season thereby becoming the youngest ever player in that competition.

does youth recruitment matter that much, is junior coaching more important? does recruitment only really affect nationalities of ur regens? or is it just an important as junior coaching. my junior coaching is excellent, but recruitment average and cannot get it improved further, i guess my rep isn't high enough, although I'm in champions league etc so im disappointed that it's not been made available to increase

LLR - shame it looks like you wont be able to win the league, but getting to the Champions League group stages is an amazing achievement on its own and the financial rewards it will bring will be very important.Manku - Shame your season didnt go well, I look forward to reading your report though.PRDH - glad to have you back, will be interesting to see how a youth only policy will work out if you decide to go for it.alodjags - Really sounds like a strange season there, does any sort of European qualification look likely though? Would be important for money and coefficients. As for junior coaching and youth recruitment I think junior coaching is the quality of coaching provided to the youth players before they make it to the intake. I think the effect of better junior coaching is that the CA of players produced is higher as it gets better. As for Youth Recruitment it is related to the catchment area which your youth products come from, a bigger pool will always increase the likelyhood of better players coming through, at least thats how I see it.

A random question, with the current season coming to an end does anyone have a look around the bottom playable leagues IRL to see what team have been relegated? I have had a peek and there are 2 or 3 which already got my interest for FM13 (I know I am looking waaaay far ahead )

Thanks corinthiano. I'm trying to make up my mind on what to do next. A few ideas I've had.

1/ Azoreans only - would be very hard as it doesn't show up as a nationality and would require me to look at, and check the place of birth of every player. Very unlikely I will do this one.
2/ Youth products only - Only players who've come through my youth set up directly.
3/ Slightly watered down version - Not signing anyone older than 16 - would make it slightly easier, and would try not to sign anyone at all, just gives me a bit of freedom to find the occasional truly great youngster coming through.

That's a good point corinthiano. I'm currently setting up a player search with place of birth set as one of the major cities on the islands, I will save it and have a look.

It's partly why I'm wondering about allowing myself to sign very young players from elsewhere.

Maybe, I say I will build a team primarily from my youth set up with a couple of caveats. I'm allowed to sign players of any age as long as they are Azorean or former products of my youth academy - so I could sign players who I've sold off and want to bring back. I can sign players who are 15 or younger as that is an addition to the youth set up.

Thoughts?

Edit - The other big question will be on the approach to players already at the club. To try to sell them all immediately or let them leave through natural wastage.

Maybe this sounds better in theory than practice to me, but how about requiring e.g. a minimum of two or three players (you decide) from countries that were once Portuguese colonies (Brazil might make that a bit easy though so omit them!) and your youth setup makes up the rest of the future team? Are there any good Angolans or Mozambicans in your game that you don't own?

That's not a bad idea Missioner. It's certainly on the list of possibilities.

In other news I realised I really wasn't looking forward to the international games and so have stepped down from my position as Portugal manager. I've led them to the verge of qualification, so it shouldn't matter too much for the team.

Disappointing to hear you weren't enjoying it, I always enjoy International management, had a great run with Peru in FM11. From this, then got French job, won Euro's + World Cup, then got fired for losing Confederation Cup final! Thought that was a bit harsh. Scotland always seem to do well in FM (for example, they occasionally qualify!) but whenver I've been them, I'm hopeless!

Did you play the likes of Cardoso for Portugal in every game, or find your club job gave you a conflict of interests and you wanted to rest him?

Well I got knocked out Champ League, but finished 3rd in group, so go straight into 1st knockout of Europa. Amazingly, AC Milan finished bottom of my group with a paltry 4 points. I beat them home and away, but then I reverted to my inconsistent self, and was beaten home and away by a poor and aging Zenit team. I beat Valencia at home, they beat me away, so I finish with a respectable 9 points which is not bad for my first season.

Going to completely ignore the Europa, my league situation is going pretty poor this season, just can't get a run going, and our star player Oneill Tatlot is currently injured for 4 months in total with torn hamstring, we're desperately missing his influence.

Board only want top 5 this season, but I thought I'd made 3rd my own by finishing there in past seasons, but with 19 games played, I'm already 6 points off 3rd, with no reason to suggest I'll close that gap anytime soon. Really need to knuckle down and have a better 2nd half of season than I did first. Already lost 5 games, when I lost 7 in total last year. Got 33 points, which if your to double would give end of season tally of 66. I finished last season with 85!

Signed this young centre back, 17 years old already been capped 7 times by Egypt - looks a good prospect. £550,000, quite pleased. He joins in the summer.

Just played my first game back after the winter break, away to a non-league side in the French Cup, played a reserve side, won 3-1, finished the game with 7 homegrown players on the pitch, 2 of which scored the 3 goals between them. Pleased with that, most of them if they hit their potential will likely only make squad players, but still be cheaper than having to sign a squad player, so going to take the youngster seriously and give them as much gametime as possible. Got my junior coaching increased to excellent last year, so be interested to see if the average pa of my regens picks up any. On the brink of bringing back Pep Lopez Morillo to the club on a pre-contract. Most of you prob won't remember, but he's a centre back I signed from Barca about 3-4 years back, got him in the summer on a bosman, sold him 4 months later to Marseille for £7m, where he's hardly played a game in all that time, now I'm negotiating to bring him back for free! What a waste of money, imagine paying that amount of cash for someone then not giving them a game.

Signing players - The aim it to build the squad around my youth products so I will not be signing players if I can avoid it. However, I will give myself a bit of leeway. This will manifest itself in two ways. Firstly, I will be allowing myself to sign players who are 15 or younger from anywhere in the world as long as they can join straight away, the justification being that this is just an extension of the youth team. Secondly, I will allow myself to sign overage players who are Azorean (they're won't be many I would have thought). Here again the justification is that I am trying to produce the best Azorean team possible, so if there are any out there, I'll snap them up. It also allows for the loophole of selling a player and buying them back a la Barcelona and Fabregas etc.

Existing players - I will not be ripping the spine out of the team all at once, instead I will keep the current players and allow the conversion to take place through natural wastage.

Looking forward to seeing how you go PRDH, I hope I get to the stage one day when I can afford to do this having completed the challenge! Aslong as the famous Lusitania production line keeps sending you the quality players you should be fine! Your a brave man!

Thirteen games played this season in my Kiel save and i currently am in 13th place. The team did some good games but there is still room for improvement this season. Hopefully we will not go down instead of up in the second part of the season. The best game was a 9-0 victory against FC Bayern II...i have no ideea how (maybe it's a bug with the second teams that i don't know of? ).

I just typed a whole review about last season, but I had to log in and I ended up losing the post. I'm going to skip this review, basically we played the same as last year, we ended up 8th and made 2 more points. We still sucked at the end of the season losing 5 out of the 6 last games.

At the end of January, 5 points off 3rd place. Who is my next fixture against, that's right you've guessed it, 3rd placed Lyon at home. An entertaining end to end game ensues, with me creating plenty chances but not having the cutting edge to finish any of them. I think sod it and go for broke, bring on 16 yr old Ilan Roger, who runs onto a loose ball and lashes home a beautiful curling effort from 20 yards to give us a vital win! I linked him up to tutor with Mohamed Diagne, and as a result Roger has gained the "model professional" description, as well as the media touting him as the next jean pierre papin! not a bad person to be compared to! Will show you screenies at end of season, quite a few of my youth products have "touted as the next..." but I don't recognise many of them, but I don't know anything about French football to be honest.

So now sitting 2 points off 3rd, with 15 games remaining. Going to put everything into the league, but I'm still battling it out on other fronts too. Got PSG in the semi's of Coupe de la Ligue coming up, and home to Lorient in French Cup, then Shaktar in Europa, so fixtures are going to be coming in heavy, I maybe should've strengthened in Jan to boost our numbers.

I signed Pep Remedios this time last season on a pre-contract from Real Madrid. Left winger, class looking player, made his Spain debut this season. But my 4231 wasn't working, I reverted to my diamond in midfield, thus losing the need for a left winger. Just as I was thinking of transfer listing him, Malaga came in and offerred £10m!! Couldn't believe my eyes! So I took the money and ran! I'm so tight with money though, waiting on upgrades to facilities so I'm reluctant to spend anything incase we don't have enough money when it comes to building the upgrades. Would rather train up the youngsters than spend millions

We made a lot more money this season, a profit in the range of 13 million euros meant we became quite a well off club. I made a profit of 5 million in transfers alone, we had nearly 19,000 people turn up every week and the club had an amazing season. I have asked for another upgrade to the Youth Facilities, they are going ahead, but the board won't expand the stadium yet. I am hoping that a large bank balance, and big crowds will lead to the club's board working towards improving the stadium without me suggesting it. The club also made it to 500 games under my management, a resulting 1-0 victory over Celta.

I really could not have asked for a better season that that, success on all three fronts, will have to push it a bit further next time.

La Liga BBVAChampions: Real Madrid

We actually started out with a victory this season, and from there the first half we prospered, at the halfway stage we were 8pts clear of Real Madrid in the league lead, but we let it slip from that point. We only went 7-6-6 through the final 19 games of the season and this saw us drop away from Madrid and into second place. All over though, barring the fall apart after the loss of Sedlacek (sold after his release clause was met), I was very happy with this season. We pulled off a miraculous comeback from the previous season and actually broke into the top 3, including beating Barcelona.

For the first time in a while we made it past the fourth round, and that took us a fair amount further. We beat Cartagena 4:1 in the fourth round, and then followed this up be beating Sporting 3:1 in the 5th Round, this saw us drawn into the Quarter finals against Betis, I was pretty sure we could win this round as well, but I was devastated to see us on the same side as Real Madrid while the other side saw Granada, Valencia, At.Madrid & Espanyol who I had beaten with ease in the league. We defeated Betis, but then fell in a terrible 5:2 loss to Real Madrid, losing 4:0 at their place put us out of the contest.

The Youth side this season saw a slightly weaker line-up as most were Youth Players from Parla, and the stronger ones played from the bench for the senior side, a terrible early loss saw them out of the cup, and a very late run from R.Madrid saw us drop into 2nd in the Youth League as well.

Goalies
GK: Dario Zaragoza (ARG) - A huge season from the new #1 Keeper, I couldn't ask for more. The first half of the season was incredible, the second half was a bit of a let down, but he did manage to get 20 clean sheets in a single season which is the best that anyone has managed for the club.GK: Ramzan Voronov (RUS) - The youngster starred for our Under19s in the offseason, but he is looking to become great cover, the issue is I normally only use one keeper all season, and the back-ups end up riding the bench and then I cannot even sell them. I am thinking he goes on loan with a "Can be Recalled" clause.

Defenders

DR: Aaron Garner (ENG) - The right back had a solid season, but nothing spectacular, he now has a very solid challenge for his position, I am hoping it makes him step to the next level and the back line helps our team improve and take the league title this season.DC: Juan Carlos Sanchez (MEX) - The third of the juggling at the back in the final stages, we really missed the solidness of Sedlacek, but Sanchez stepped up with an amazing effort through the second half and looks to be the number 1 choice going into the new season, and the other two will fight it out to line-up alongside him.DC: Kevin de Man (NED) - He was a big signing in January, as soon as Sedlacek was being sold I needed a replacement and de Man was the best I could find. I spent over 5 million on him, but I thought his performances, and his potential lead me to believe he will repay the cost.DC: Liam Parry (WAL) - He was the starter alongside Sedlacek early in the season, but near the end it was a three way fight for positions and none of the three was guaranteed to be in the side. Parry made it into the team of the year, but I am not really sure that he was that amazing.DL: Zdenek Moravec (CZE) - The Czech left back was doing excellently all season, as he cracked 150 games in Parla colours. He also has become the most capped player to not score a goal. He is one of the strengths of a back line that suffered a bit with the loss of Sedlacek in the middle of the season, he is growing into a leading role.DR: Soren Ostergaard (DEN) - Our great Dane is hoping to improve enough to pass Garner on the depth chart, but he also knows he will see a lot more game time this season. He had a solid season in the 25 games he did play.
DC: Esad Cekic (GER) - Another player brought in as cover, but he really isn't that good, is deep cover if I need it.DL: Jonas Johannsen (DEN) - The back-up left back is trying to build himself up to pass Moravec, but the continuing consistency means he hopes to get some game time in a lesser match-up this season and get the experience needed.

Midfielders

MC: Stephane Ireke (CMR) - The African was a main stay in the centre of the park this season, he has shown that he is the best player we have had in this role, and he works well with any of our multiple choices through the middle. He may have only managed 7 assists, but he is definitely more defensive in the Deeper midfield role.MC: Bife (BRA) - 42 games, 6 goals, 12 assists, a great season from our vice-captain. Bife is slowly growing into the role, he is one of the best centre mids in the league and his performances of late, especially from free kicks have seen his stock rise, he will be the starter in the new season.AMR: Ondrej Linhart (CZE) - Another excellent season from my favourite player, he managed to gain 10 goals and 7 assists, no question he is the best right wing we have, and he played a great role in the slot behind Montiquin when Legendre was injured as well.AMC: Christophe Legendre (FRA) - The star spent a long period out injured this season, but he is still our best current attacking midfielder. With 4 goals and 9 assists he was very solid, I am not sure if he will keep his place following the end of the season, but we will see what happens in the Preseason.AML: Rudy Rousseau (FRA) - ​A disastrous injury in January saw him out for 7-8 months with ACL damage, the team really suffered while he was missing. Though his replacement did well, I hope he comes back with form as he did really well in the 22 games he played this year.
MC: Ercan Yildirim (TUR) - Our captain is now a bench player, while Yildirim appears to do well in both centre midfield positions, he is not as good at either of them as Bife or Ireke, as such he plays most of his games in cover of them. I am trying to decide whether I keep him around for some true depth in the league games, or let him go.MC: Domingos (MC) - The youngster is now showing Italian nationality as he plays in their youth side. He played a part of 5 games this season, he scored once and grabbed an assist, he looks like the prefect youngster to back-up the team. Delighted with the purchase there.
MC: Matthias Wagner (GER) - The young German managed a few appearances in the team, but the signing of Domingos may see him slip too far down the charts to get an appearance.
MR: Besik Gabelia (GEO) - He spent a long time through the season starting as Legendre was out, and Linhart moved to the middle. I thought the Georgian did pretty well, he managed 8 assists, but I was surprised to see him not get a goal.
MR: Vyacheslav Yershov (RUS) - Sitting third on the depth chart means the Russian doesn't get much play, but he does look reasonable when he gets out there. May get more game time as we juggle three competitions this season.AMC: Antonio Jesus Sola (ESP) - The youngster came in as I looked to the future at attacking mid, he only played a few games, and didn't really do much, but he is still young and has a huge amount of potential. He will get the first shot at taking over from Legendre, and will probably play in at least cup games, and probably the easier league games.ML: John Kieffer (BEL) - The Young player of the Year saw a fair amount of time during Rouseeau's injury, but he never really did enough to challenge for the starting role after a return from injury. Will be looking to get another chance this season as he has passed Nangis into the 2nd spot on the depth chart.
ML: Jacques Nangis (FRA) - He started the season as the 2nd best left wing, but fell behind Kieffer and didn't really get another chance, he will be hoping to do something in the Preseason to get himself another shot.

Strikers

ST: Jesus Montiquin (ARG) - His worst season to date, the first time he didn't score 22 goals in the league, but he has made it to 111 goals for Parla, and he appears to still be the best goalscorer in our squad, just went dry in the midseason and contributed to our fall from the top.ST: Amirudin Delalic (SUI) - The youngster is my first hope for the future, though I have several other options out and about in the team and coming in. I will give him a shot in the offseason, and it may end up with a change in the line-up, will see what happens.

In BriefPredicted: 9thMy League Aim: Title ChallengeExpectations: Top HalfTransfer Budget: 6.33MWage Budget: 375kWages at 01.07.2: 283,289
Future Signings: Willem Cox (DC,Feyenoord,2.4M), Mikhal Lapin (ST,Spartak,3M), Michele Di Muro (AMC,Roma,2.4M), Mehmet Comaktekin (DR,Besiktas,1.7M), Jose Maria Medina (MR/ST,Velez,2M), Idriss (AMC,Malaga,450k), Felix Schmieg (DRLC,Stuttgart,2.2M)
I made a lot of young signings, hoping at least some of them can step in and perform, but one thing is for sure I am spending a lot of money trying to make this team better.

This Offseason has seen R.Madrid chasing Sola & Domingos for their own teams, its a worry because I really can't afford to lose the players who I need in the future. Our finances will get a boost though as we signed a new kit sponsorship deal to the level of 700k per season. After the end of the season the board decided of their own accord to expand the stadium, they are adding another 10,000 seats which is exactly what we need. I am undecided whether to make the Champions League or League more important this season, will probably depend on the group draw.

Great season LLR - de Man looks like he was a decent replacement for Sedlacek. Some of the youngsters you have signed for next season look to have huge potential. Can we arrange a loan deal for Çomaktekin, I am in dire need of a RB

Thanks DodgeeD, I don't know if they are on the wane, I think they will be back, they did just sell Fabergas (To Granada). I just think they slipped up early in the last season and it took them all season to recover.

Thanks Corinthiano, he was good enough to do the job, and it looks like he will do well this season as well. I tried to bring in a bunch of young guys who might be able to do something, and sure a loan deal sounds like a good idea, he is third or fourth on my list with Ostergaard, Garner, and then Pedersen. I am quite pleased with the youngsters, hoping some of them can be back-ups this season.

It was a pretty average season with us hovering around mid-table after until there were 9 games left in the season. An amazing run of 6 wins and 3 draws put us right in the mix for promotion and a playoff place. On the final day of the season we were even in a promotion place for 20 minutes before Bozüyükspor turned their game around and clinched promotion. But the important thing was, unlike the 2. Lig playoffs we actually went into the playoff off the back of a great run.

Promotion Playoffs

Semi Final First Leg – It was a pretty tense and uneventful game until Jozinovic’s 5 minutes of madness. First he scored a clever header from a free-kick and a couple of minutes later lunged into an opposition player and got himself sent-off. We managed to hold on to an important lead though.Semi Final Second Leg – The game started excellently and within twenty minutes we were 2-0 up and cruising. We got complacent at half time and a couple of goals conceded halfway through the half ensured a tense finale. Again, we managed to hold on making it to the final!Final – You can certainly say it was an interesting game! I had the upper hand in the 13th minute when Adana D.S. got a player sent off for elbowing one of our defenders. Despite us being dominant after that it was Adana D.S. who broke the deadlock and I feared the worst. We did however manage to equalize in the first half and take the lead early in the second. After that it was pretty comfortable and we secured promotion!

This season was all about signing key players and all signings were straight shoe-ins for the first team. The foreign players were way better than anything we had at the club and made all the difference.

First XI

*denotes a Hacettepe youth product

GK: Ceyhun Demircan – Was solid again, keeping 17 clean sheets in 40 matches. Shouldn’t have a problem making the step-up to the top tier.DR: Fahri Akyol – Regained his place in the first team this season, but I am not entirely happy with him.DC: *Eyüp Özçelik* – Suffered a lot with injuries this year, but still had a good season.DC: Sanjin Gavric – One of the foreigners brought in, an absolute rock in defence.DL: Deniz Isik – Brought in for the left-back spot, OK for this league, not sure about next season.DMC: Antonio Jozinovic – The other foreigner brought in, helped turn our defence into the best of the league.MC: Mohammed Al-Sallal – Boy was I glad when his agent offered me this gem, by far our best player and with plenty of room to improve. He has a 100k release clause, so I am trying to get him to sing a new contract as soon as possible as there are some clubs sniffing around.MC: Hasan Türk – And I thought my MC pairing would never be replaced…Hasan was brought in on a free and was part of a strong revamped midfield.AMC: Azer Abbasov – Not considered foreign due to his Azeri roots, was voted Fans Player of the Season.ST: Mehmet Düz – Ergun got injured and he came back to the team and did a better job, but generally we weren’t great up front.ST: Onur Garip – Think the club legend could be nearing the end of his Hacettepe career, I already have two new strikers coming in the summer and he will be used as back-up. Broke the league appearance record this season.

Others

Ergun Cengiz – Not the same this season, started as a first teamer but lost his places to Mehmet.
*Güney Avcu* – Youth product that got plenty of chanves this season, unfortunately no goal for him yet.Levent Çalik – Played a lot due to Özçelik’s injuries and did well.
*Mümin Bas* – Another promising youth product, but his contract is expiring and I am struggling to get him to sign a new deal.
*Serkan Kiraz* – Didn’t progress as much as I hoped he would, but still has potential.

Other News

Finances – There was atakeover at the club and the chairman took out a 4.5 M loan to cover our debt, but even without the loan we would have made a profit for the season. I think we should do well financially from now on though seeing as there is a lot of money in the Süper Lig and our sponsorship deal surely helps.

1. Avoid Relegation. Yes, slightly overachieved there
2. Sign 3 foreigners that could make a difference. Yes, they were absolutely vital and even won awards.
3. Try to make a profit Yes, sure the loan was the main contributor, but we would have made a profit even without it.

Next Season Targets

1. Avoid Relegation again.
2. Sign 3 further foreigners that could make a difference.
3. Find some decent Turkish players.

Going up so soon was unexpected (even though DodgeeD said it was possible ) and I think we might struggle at the top. Getting some good foreigners will be key again as I just can’t find many good Turkish players available on a free. Next season will be all about avoiding the drop as the finances should improve each year if we keep at the top.

great season there llr - your keeper is fantastic. Cox + Medina look superb of the new signings, bright future for you I think. Shame Montiquin didn't keep up his standards but I'm sure he'll be back next season!

Originally Posted by Manku

aldojags Sounds like Roger is going to be a superstar, how many has he scored this season?

Only 4 manku - mainly been used off the bench when we're winning out of sight, but between now and end of season I reckon I'm going to just throw him in, treat him like a first team regular. His attributes are improving all the time, just need to improve his pace (11) and I think when he matures he'll be a complete centre forward. He holds the ball up brilliantly already. Coaches all fancy him as an advanced forward, that's what I've been doing with him, and he picks it up and lays it off well for other players. Really cannot wait to see what he'll be like in say 5-10 years, if I keep him that is

That's a nice way to start the new era in Lusitânia Açores' desire for self-sufficiency. After a fight with my board I have managed to get the youth recruitment network extended. It is now 'well established'. That can only be a good thing as I start to rely wholly on what they produce! Hopefully I'll still get some decent real local lads through though.

Edit - And the policy is already starting to bite. Non-home-grown players Bentalaa and Jellouli are leaving when the transfer window opens in January. Bentalaa leaves as a first team regular, but in a position where we have some talented local boys while Jellouli has potential, but hasn't broken into the first team yet, and again, we have some decent youth products in his position.

Impressed you are sticking to your laurels so early! I thought you'd hold onto as many as you could for as long as you could, but you obviously have faith in the youngsters, I hope they repay u! Have you got excellent junior coaching? I can see some starlets coming through next few seasons to further compound my jealousy of your save!!

Are you back into your save now PRDH? I remember you saying along with iacovone you were finding it hard to be interested? Now that you've given yourself a new challenge, you think you'll stick with the save a while longer?

aldojags - Well, they're positions where I've got reasonably established players. Rodrigues on the right was basically first choice anyway, and Teixeira in midfield has been around for a while. Yeah, really back into it now with this challenge. Very excited.

Just put out my first all homegrown squad - even subs. It's against Beira-Mar in the 6th round of the cup. Not even a first choice squad. Left Rodrigues, Dias, Cardoso and Vieira on the bench. It didn't start well. We went 1-0 down in the 8th minute. But a goal in the 22nd took us into half time level. The second half saw us put on a real display and emerge as 1-5 victors. This gives me real confidence for what I'm trying to do. Would still like a right-back and left winger to come through though.

Edit - Oh, and yeah, excellent junior coaching, state of the art youth and training facilities and well-established youth recruitment. I've got the best chance of getting quality players through and also the best chance of them reaching that potential. Fingers crossed...

I'm the board will happily increase it for you given you've climbed the leagues so quickly. So what's the structure of Turkish Prem? You likely to stay up? Whose been winning it past few seasons?

It is pretty simple, 18 teams, 34 games, team with most points win. They took out the Championship Playoff in the latest patch, which makes things a lot easier! Fenerbahce have been the dominating side, winning 4 out of the 6 in-game season, with Galatasaray and Trabzonspor winning the other two. Things have started well we have 7 points from 4 games and dont look out of place. Of course it is way too early to say I will stay up.

One thing which I like a lot in the top division is that you get € 346k for every win and € 174k for every draw in the league

Liga Vitalis:
We absolutely sucked this season. I signed some promising players for the midfield but they were all very defensive minded. Also I had no playmakers, which meant no goals for me. I lost as many times as the last couple seasons (13), but unfortunately my mistakes lead the team not being able to win the games we were supposed to. We just couldn't score. It was horrible. We ended up just above relegation zone, and for the first time ever I feared I would be fired from a club.

Taca de Portugal:
Lost to Freamunde on PKs on the 2nd round, it's the 4th time in 5 years that I'm out of the competition after losing on penalty kicks. It seems like we just can't do it.

Portuguese League Cup:
Ended last in the 1st phase with a (1W-2L) record. Not much else to point out about this one.

Key Players:GK: PolacoA very good young goalkeeper. He has been with us for a couple years now and is improving a lot.DC:Juan Jose ParedesOur best center defender, great player in the air, a little slow. He doesn't seem interested in signing a new contract, which means he won't be with us next season.DL: Rastislav StrakaI must confess, I regretted signing him a couple years ago. He was a promising player, but not good enough for what he was earning. Right now, I'm glad I signed him. He is very consistent defensively. The only thing I don't like about him is that he is not good offensively.DM/DC: Xia ZhenyuI had many troubles with this guy. He was homesick, so I let him go home. When he returned he kept complaining, I ignored him and he stopped complaining. He's adapted now, and ready to be a brick wall behind my creative mids. AMR: Peter MenningenI signed him to be behind Fabio Martins, but he ended up playing better than Fabio. I gave him the starting spot and he seemed to improve as the season went on. ST/AML: Gonzalo GalloOur best scorer, and basically the only one who scored goals. I'm confident that with a couple good playmakers behind him, he will be even better next season.

Future:
Hopefully we'll be able to get back on track, and the new guys in the middle can start taking control of the game again for me.
Aims:
Finish top 6
Score at least 37
Concede less than 33

corinthiano, finances are not very well at all, we have a 2M loan from the bank. I was hoping to do what I did with my Boavista save and sell some of the developed youngsters to balance the finances, but I guess I didn't expect to get stuck on Liga Vitalis.

Selling squad players for a good fee only tends to happen in the top tier, very true. Bad news on the Gallo front, are there any clubs interested in him? What sort of fee would you be able to get and most importantly, would you be able to replace him?

Just noticed a very weird thing in my save, Mali have been No.1 in the World Rankings for most of 2017...Granted they have won the African Cup of Nations and all their matches in 2017 bar two, but all of them were against African competition apart from Germany, a match they drew 2-2.

I Pacos de Ferreira offered me 200k for him, but he rejected the contract. He has one year left in his contract and doesn't even want to talk to me. For some reason all my best players' agents hate me, which makes everything even harder. I just hope I can sell him before the window closes, I don't want to lose him without getting any money from it. I did already replaced him with Melgarejo, who played very well in the preseason, but it's hard to replace Gallo.

I'm sure Mali won't stay there for long. In one of my other saves I saw Portugal being ranked 60something, which is very weird when you have the likes of Nani, and Ronaldo, on your team

Tough season there manku, just need to rebuild. You've got the foundations there, just need the creativity like you said. Melgarejo will make you more dangerous definitely. Shame your losing that Peruvian defender he looks solid.

That's strange about Mali! My rankings are all pretty much what you'd expect, except Belgium in 4th who are current World & European champions...don't ask how because I don't know...

Yeah, Aldo, Paredes was a pretty good. He's playing in Spain now and earning 3 times more what I could pay him. He served me well, hopefully the replacements will do the job. This season I decided to let go a bunch of guys and replace them with loaned players. The backbone is still the same, loaned players just help me balance the finances.

About Belgium, I'm not surprised at all. I think Belgium has a bright future ahead of them, they have many young players coming up. I can see them getting far in 2014 and even being a serious contender in 2016. And, I guess the programers share the same opinion, because Courtois, Kompany, Vermaelen, Witsel, Fellaini, Hazard, Defour, and Lukaku will be/are world class players.

After winning the Champions League last season and completing the challenge, I decided to stay one more season at East Stirlingshire and take a victory lap. In my last report I didn’t mention my main reason for doing this; I had never had an undefeated season in the league.
So here’s my record for the season, (in all competitions).
W62, D2, L0
The 62 wins include winning the Champions League in extra time and the League Cup in a penalty shootout. Maybe they should count as draws. If only I'd done a little bit better, I might have won the Manager of the Year award.

The draws were away to Inter in the Champions League, and, frustratingly, at home to Celtic in the 31st league game when I had the goal of a perfect season in my sights.

So, Rangers didn’t manage to make the league competitive again, but a couple of the finals were quite exciting, and of course the end of the league season was more nerve wracking than usual with the unbeaten record at stake.
Chelsea (our favourite whipping boys) actually put up a bit of a fight in the Champions league final, and had the audacity to even go ahead, the cheeky minnows. We’re East Stirlingshire. Who the hell are you?

It’s hard to imagine leaving the Shire, but there’s not really a whole lot else I can achieve. It would take me about another 4 seasons to become top of the hall of fame, and I did that in last year’s game anyway.

So I’m loading up the Spanish league and I’ll start at the bottom of that.

The Scottish managers job came up (after I told the press I was interested even while the previous guy was still there). So far the only match I’ve had with them was a friendly against East Stirlingshire, where they were nearly beaten by 2 of my strikers and 2 of my goalkeepers, one of whom was playing in central defence. The other 7 players were greys. Absolutely ages until a competitive fixture. It’s fun your international team being able to play a club side, but it’s undermined somewhat if your entire squad is on international duty elsewhere. However, it will be fun to see if Scotland can beat my Spanish basement side next season. Frustratingly, my players who haven’t picked up an international cap, and could take Scottish nationality, show no inclination to do so if they’re already an EU national.

So, see you when I get to Spain.

Just to be clear. For the challenge can I take over any team, as my present incarnation, world-wide rep and all, as long as they were not in the bottom division in 2031/32? Or is it if they weren't in the bottom division in 2012/13? This seems a bit unfair if they've spent the last 18 or 19 years in the league.

In any case, i will try to find a complete virgin team to have my way with, untainted by any hint of domestic league history.

9 games left in this season and currently sitting in 15th place but so much bullcrap happened in my last game. I was playing the 2nd team in the league, they score 2 very lucky goals and after that they get two of my best players injured for 3-4 months each...so stupid.

Edit: So this is becoming even more stupid. My left full backs got injured at least 2 times each in this second part of the season...and i have 4.

I remember my first few seasons, the injury situation got on my nerves, every week I'd lose someone, sometimes only for 2-3 weeks, sometimes for 3-4 months. When I got to Ligue 1, I must admit I've been fairly fortunate, but this season both Oneil Tatlot + Tony Champion, pretty much my 2 most important players, are both currently out for months, but that's been the first injury that's annoyed me for years. But I feel your pain, it does get to points where you think there's a glitch in the game.

Another thing that's happened to me a few times is I use a sub to replace an injured player, then the sub get's injured soon after. I've finished plenty matches with 10 men because of injuries, I tend to use my subs early if things aren't going well, but it's tripped me up a couple of times.

Yeah I had that last season too, got to a point where one of my midfielders would get injured every game, so frustrating! I only ever make two subs exactly because of what you mentioned aldojags, happens quite a bit that a player is injured at the end of the game so I dont have to play it out with 10.

Yeah I've stopped it recently, as it left me with 10 men quite a few times.

Well my policy of playing a reserve/u-19 team in Europa league, like last season, is working wonders. Got Shaktar away in first leg of first knockout round, sent a very average second string with a few under 19s, won 5-0 away!! Played a similar team at home, drew 4-4! Got AZ in the next round. Can't get over the 5-0 away to Shaktar though, unbelievable. Even a couple of u19s scored.

corinthiano - Well done getting consecutive promotions.Manku - Shame that you didn't continue to progress this season, but I'm sure it was just a blip.vikeologist - Massive congrats, completing the challenge in Scotland is huge. Good luck wherever you end up next.aldojags - Keep building up the squad and you'll soon get there. Those Europa League results will also be huge for the development of your youngsters. Did Ilan Roger play in any of the games?PRDH - Glad to see you're back into your save. Your new transfer strategy looks very interesting.LLR - Great season after last year's disappointment. Really building for the future with those youngsters.

Yeah he played in both the Europa games, couple of assists I think but surprising didn't score any of the 9 goals over the tie. He's got 4 goals this season so far, only started handful of games, mostly used him off the bench. He's just been called up to French U-21 squad at the age of 16, totally bypassed U-19 level. Think he's destined for greatness.

After successive promotions I was expecting a tough battle, but was surprised by our decent start. This obviously didnt last long and soon enough we were in mid-table turning in some good and some bad performances. After the winter break we went into an awful run of 3 draws and 6 defeats, which saw we were only 3 points off safety. But we eased off any fears by winning the last 3 games, ending it all off with giving Fenerbahce a 3-1 beating.

One interesting story in the league was the Galatasaray title win. Going into the last match Gala were a point ahead of Trabzonspor and played them in the last match. A 6-0 trouncing ensured the title win for them. This was also Fatih Terims last match before retiring, such a nice way for the Gala legend to end his career.

A lot of movement this year as I attempted to bring the squad up to Süper Lig level. Brought in those extra foreigners and they made the difference. I struggled to find too many good Turkish players, but got a couple of Uzbekistanis in who dont count as foreigners. It was also nice to loan out my youngsters to our new feeder club, which they helped to keep in the 2. Lig.

First XI

*denotes a Hacettepe youth product

GK: Volkan Babacan  Picked him up on a free and he did a good job.DR: Gulom Urunov  Really struggled to find anyone decent once all the foreigner spots were taken, so had to go with Urunov.DC: Murod Holmuhammedov  Forgot to take his screenshot before the new season, but he was a brilliant find from Uzbekistan and solid in defence.DC: Sanjin Gavric  Carried over his form from last season and was voted Fans Player of the Year.DL: Özgür Çek  The former Fenerbahce bench warmer didnt have the best of starts for us due to his many injuries.DMC: Ibrahim Dagasan  Ibrahim provided us with much needed experience between defense and midfield.MC: Mohammed Al-Sallal  He just keeps getting better and better. Managed to keep him away from any bidders and he paid it off with some strong performances. A horrible injury towards the end of the season will keep him out for 5 months though MC: Mirko Maric  Very strong and young midfielder, am thinking of moving him to Ibrahims position once age gets the better of him.AMC: Tomás Farfán  He was unlucky with injuries in his first season, but he has a lot of potential and I expect to see more of him next season.ST: John García  Picked him up on a free and he seemed to be the only striker who knew how to find the net. Was elected Signing of the Season.ST: Mustafa Semih Kepoglu  Good youngster with potential, really struggled to find the net, even if I played him on a supporting role. Will look for more next season.

Others

Antonio Jozinovic  Lost his place to Ibrahim, but still pitched in with a few decent performances.Azer Abbsasov  Also lost his place this season, but had some good games.David Ríos  The Argentine came on loan to help our strike problems. Zero goals didnt really do much to help.
*Eyüp Özçelik*  Lost his place this season and I am afraid back-up in the Süper Lig might be the best our first youth product will ever achieve.Ham Ji-Young  Brought him in before I saw Özgür, so he was set to be a back-up, but ended up playing a lot this season. He is still young and could improve so I might keep him around even though he is foreign.

Other News

Finances  Well, I sure do like the Süper Lig, a nice  1.3 M profit last season means we will have a large transfer budget next season.

1. Avoid Relegation again. Yes, not as easy this time, but achieved.
2. Sign 3 further foreigners that could make a difference. Yes, got carried away and signed 5, so had to bench two, but they all added quality to the squad.
3. Find some decent Turkish players Kinda, got a few for the first team, but had to resort to a couple of Uzbekistanis to fill some gaps.

Next Season Targets

1. Mid-Table Safety.
2. Better performances against the big teams.

I think we will be OK in terms of relegation this year and I am looking for us to establish ourselves in the division. Last year we pretty much got trounced by the big teams only getting a draw against Trabzonspor and a win against Fenerbahce, both at home. I would like to at least keep more respectable scores, mainly away from home.

Good season there corinthiano, now you've stayed up it'll be onwards and upwards from here. How odd Uzbekistan have made the world cup! And Korea, that's some wierd nationalities you've recruited there!! Shame Ozcelik is back up-but still good to have the youth around the squad.

My latest youth recruits have arrived, got two 3 star strikers - Patrice Caron, and Gregory Michel. If they both hit their potential they'll be more than good enough for first team squad, strikers I've got just now at 3 star are a really good standard, so pleased with that intake.

Now that I'm not signing players these intakes have taken on a whole new importance. It's my main source of new players, and vital to the development of the club. Especially important is to get players through in all positions. Anyway, without further ado, let me introduce the latest batch of players to try to make it into the first team.

The two highest-rated players are these two defensive midfielders:

Duarte, or Fernando Jorge Duarte to give him his full name, is a defensive midfielder and anchorman born in Angra do Heroísmo itself. He has a decent set of attributes but unfortunately finds himself in a position with a series of home-grown incumbents already. For this reason, and looking at his attributes, I'm thinking of retraining him as a right back. Any thoughts on that plan?

Carlos Daniel, born on the mainland, is the player my assistant was most excited by, but I see the real talent of the intake as Duarte. He is another defensive midfielder, but of a type I've seen a couple of times already. I'm unconvinced by his ability to become a first team regular, but we'll see how he does.

Carlos Abrantes, also born in Angra, is one of the lesser lights, he still has two and a half stars, but I'm not hopeful about his chances.

Tiago Silva, born in Madalena do Pico on a nearby island, is yet another defensive midfielder. He is another who looks decent without looking like a future world beater. He could be useful back up if I can find a position for him.

All-in-all a slightly disappointing intake. The players are reasonably talented, but not in positions I have any real need for. Could still do with a good left winger or right back. Hopefully Duarte could transfer his skills to the latter, but the former is woefully understocked.

corinthiano - Easily surpassed expectations and with the added money you really have something to build on.PRDH - I'd say Duarte would be a good rightback, obviously after some Quickness focus. Silva might also be able to do a job as a centreback (or another rightback). Might be worthwile to try and get your Junior Coaching upped to Exceptional if it's still at Excellent.

PRDH - I'd say Duarte would be a good rightback, obviously after some Quickness focus. Silva might also be able to do a job as a centreback (or another rightback). Might be worthwile to try and get your Junior Coaching upped to Exceptional if it's still at Excellent.

Aha, having just checked my junior coaching is in fact Exceptional. Just a case of not thinking properly when I was writing it previously.

Wow, three DMs at oncePRDH. I know how you feel. At least they aren't all goalkeepers Abrantes' personality may help him develop well but I wouldn't get my hopes up with his poor stats at present. At least he may be a good future tutor for a good left winger.

I agree with the Duarte to right back, but I personally value decent dribbling skills in LB/RB alongside quickness before he is worth his salt. Daniel and Silva could do the same job to be fair, perhaps Silva's skillset is more rounded for the job.

How flexible/deep is your squad formation-wise and what are you currenly using as first and backup?

Well Parla have their group draw, not the worst, but I know I am fighting for 2nd, Manchester United, CSKA Moscow & Bordeaux, I am pretty sure I can overcome Bordeaux, CSKA will be tough, but I am pretty sure I have no chance against ManU. Going to concentrate on the league, but if I have an easy league game my seniors will feature in Europe. Also my group is better than a couple of others: Lyon & Bayern, Barcelona & Marseille, Chelsea & AC Milan, Real Madrid & Inter. As a fourth seed I was worried about hitting a big pair of teams, but I think I got a good deal.

Missioner - I've got pretty good squad depth in central midfield, central defence, in goal, and on the right of midfield from the youth academy and my strike force is almost there. I've got a left back who is coming through who should be good enough for a place either next season, or more likely the season after and a semi-decent left-winger who might make something of himself, perhaps. The real issue is right back, where I have two youth prospects, both of whom are pretty poor if I'm honest.

My formations are a hybrid (I suppose) of a 442 and 424 - Gk, DL, DC, DC, DR, MC, MC, AML, AMR, FC, FC with my back ups being a 3-4-3 and a 4-5-1.

Duarte definitely isn't a ready made full-back. He will work on his pace, though I'm not as fussed about dribbling. I prefer to have them delivering from deep or first time from the byline after an overlap, rather than taking on a man.

And that's 200. In his 236th league game the 26-year-old Pedro Cardoso has reached 200 league goals for the club. A marvellous achievement for the homegrown boy. The first player in Lusitânia Açores' history to reach the milestone.

that is a ridiculous record! What a total legend! Can't wait for your next update to see how his attributes are looking I haven't seen him since he was about 22-23 I think!

you ever had anyone interested in him or had a near miss with him wanting to leave? Ilan Roger lists me as favoured personnel, but he doesn't list Viry-Chatillon as a fave club, so I'm worried long term.

PRDH - Duarte and Carlos Daniel look very promising. If you play your RB defensively I reckon Duarte could do a job there. I personally dont use wingers so my full-backs have to be of the Brazilian kind.

aldojags - Yeah, there were a load of people interested in him earlier in his career. It took him a while to accept Lusitânia Açores as his favoured club, which annoyed me a bit (not much with the goals) but he's taken it on now. Not had people interested for a while, though, certainly a couple of seasons. Will be looking to tie him down to another extended contract soon, as I have been doing fairly regularly with all of the local stars. Oh, and you shouldn't have to wait too long. I've only got a couple of games to play this season.corinthiano - Yeah, by full backs tend to be quite attacking too, in the same way all my team are, but I'm hoping once his training kicks in he'll develop in the direction I want him to!

Liga Vitalis:
This season we got back on track after last year's disastrous run. We ended up 3rd, 3 points shy from promotion. We consolidated the squad and got many players involved in first team duty. Unlike the other seasons, we managed to keep the form constant throughout the year. We got a very high number of injuries, which will make me rethink my training schedules, and may have made the difference between us finishing 2nd or 3rd. Overall it was a very positive season, and gives me hopes for promotion next season. Our record was (15W-9L-6D) with (48-37) in goals for/against.

Taca de Portugal:
This time we went all the way to quarter-finals in the Portuguese Cup, and eventually lost to Estoril (2-0). It was a very good run, probably thanks to some lucky match-ups. On our way to the quarter finals we beat Quarteirense (4-0), Lamego (6-0), Oliveirense (2-1), and a late comeback against Gil Vicente (2-1).

Portuguese League Cup:Ended last in the 1st phase with a (1W-2L) record. Not much else to point out about this one.

Key Players:GK: Armand Bakayoko A very young goalkeeper with a lot of potential. He made some mistakes, but I'm sure he will keep improving.
DC: Renan Felipe Our best center defender. A true leader in the back, and the most consistent player in the team. He made a good partnership with Brauer.
DC: Bjorn Brauer Last year, he played mediocrely in the midfield but after Paredes leaving the club, and he moving to centerback, he started playing at a very high level. Too bad his form went down at the end of the season, leading me to benching him. He is young, so I assume he just got broke down. Lets see how he does next year.
DR/DL: Alex Kakuba Our fearless leader. Kakuba was our best player this season, leading the team from the back. He played both on the right and the left, and rallied the troops for a last promotion push at the end of the season. He was our only player to feature in the Second League Team of the Year.
DL: Nuno Correia He came on loan from Penafiel, mainly to be a backup to Kakuba. With Straka's injury in the beginning of the season, I had to move Kakuba to the left side and play Correia as a starter. He played very well, and made me wish I had him long-term.
DM/DC: Xia Zhenyu A brick wall behind my midfielders, this guy gives security to the whole team. Too bad he got injured twice, while on international duty, and wasn't available for a third of the season.
MC/AMC: Massimo Francesco Piccinni Was the type of guy I was missing last season. He was the maestro of the team, and scored some important goals from long range, when games seemed to be doomed to and up in a draw. Great player.
MC/DM: Emrah Volkan Yildirin Appart from having a cool name, Yildirin was Piccinni's ugly friend. He covered up and did the hard work to assure Piccinni could keep the team moving. He also covered up for Zhenya at DM for when the Chinese went on his many trips for his national side.
AMR: Peter Menningen He played even better this season, scoring 5 goals and 7 assists. He was also named young player of the year. Too bad I couldn't count with him for the last part of the season because of an injury, I'm sure he would have made a difference.
ST/AML: Gonzalo Gallo Our best scorer, once again. He played very well this season scoring 10 goals in the league. I often used him as a winger, to allow Melgarejo to play as well. We had some problems with him wanting to leave at the beginning of the season, but he eventually calmed down and even signed an new contract.
ST: Lorenzo Melgarejo I signed him to replace Gallo, who I believed was going to leave the team at the end of the season. Melgarejo played well, dividing his time between the first team and the bench. He was our second best scorer, and didn't disappoint when called upon. He broke his leg at the end of the season, I hope he gets well fast.

Future: Next season is now or never for Promotion. We will only lose 2 players who were with us on loan, and we already have replacements for them. I hope it will be our last season in the second tier.